


Tidewaters

by ASadHermitStory



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ahch-To, Alien Culture, Alien/Human Relationships, Aphrodisiacs, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Folklore, Lanai Caretakers, Ritual Sex, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21536953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASadHermitStory/pseuds/ASadHermitStory
Summary: The Visitor is male, Alcida-Auka knows instinctively, and so she Welcomes him home as a woman ought to welcome a man.
Relationships: Alcida-Auka/Luke Skywalker
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2019





	Tidewaters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lucymonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/gifts).



Life goes on. The tidewaters rise and fall.

In ancient times, according to the Taletellers’ legends, their people lived solely in the sea. They lived in the sea, and the sea also lived in them. The rise and fall of the tides ruled the rise and fall of their lives.

Some, however, were dissatisfied with their lives. They did not wish to be ruled by the sea. And so they rose from the water, shed their scales, took instead to the air on feathered wings, and found their freedom in the skies.

Yet even still some were dissatisfied. The winds were too unpredictable, they said. They did not like being blown forever to and fro. They missed the predictability of the tides. And so they were humbled. They shed their feathers and sought to return to the sea.

But woe! Alas! Alack! The sea was angry and would not take them back. And so they went to live in the only place they could, the only place which was neither air nor sea:

The land. They went to live on land, and they—the Lanai—have been living on land ever since.

Alcida-Auka is reflecting silently upon this legend as she goes about her daily chores when her reflections are interrupted by a deafening, wooshing boom. She looks up, startled, following the direction of the sound with her eyes. Only a short distance beyond the shoreline of Ahch-To, she sees the Visitor tumble from the sky and fall with a heavy splash into the sea.

* * *

The sea rejected her people when they tried to return. The sea rejects the Visitor too, and he is made to crawl ashore, soaked and shivering with cold.

Few Visitors come here anymore. Indeed, the other women have not had a Visitor to the island in their lifetimes, and they are burbling with excitement. “Give me the honor, Matron!” Terna-Gentu, the youngest, cries. “I will Welcome the Visitor as tradition demands!”

“No. _I_ will be the one to Welcome the Visitor,” Alcida-Auka says. As the oldest of the women, the Matron of the Caretakers of Ahch-To, it is her duty first. And besides, she is the only one of them who has previously witnessed a Visitor Welcome.

She escorts the Visitor to one of the Visitor Abodes and builds him a fire to warm and dry him. She helps him out of his waterlogged clothing and offers him thick blankets. She does not understand his speech, and he does not understand hers, but he listens carefully to her words and tries to imitate them. In time, Alcida-Auka knows, he will learn.

The Lanai had had to learn, too, when they made the land their home. Between sea and sky, they were neither wholly ruled nor wholly free. The rise and fall of the tides no longer ruled the rise and fall of their lives…but it might still _guide_ their lives, if they wished it.

They wished it.

The Visitor is exhausted by his journey. The tide is low; it is time for rest. Alcida-Auka will return to wake him again when the tide is high. Then he will be Welcomed.

* * *

The tidewaters fall and rise. Her people have chosen this life.

The women find the predictable rhythms of life in their work. The Temple is sacred; the care of it is an act of devotion. The Visitors to the Temple are also sacred; the care of them is also an act of devotion. Devout acts are a duty—and they are a pleasure.

The men are often away. Although the sea would not take the Lanai back into its depths, the sea cannot stop them from floating _atop_ it, in boats made of wood and rushes and waterproof thala-siren hides. The winds are fickle; the tides, however, are more reliable, and they decide where the men may go a-hunting for sea creatures, and they decide when, occasions all too rare, they may return.

When the men do return, carried in on the highest of high tides, there is pleasure to be had by all Lanai.

The Visitor is male, Alcida-Auka knows instinctively, and so she Welcomes him home as a woman ought to welcome a man. The tide is rising when she brings him the sweet-salt draught, and she stays with him as it takes hold of his body and mind.

His body is not like a Lanai’s, not in the slightest, and especially not where it counts, but Alcida-Auka is observant, and she sees where the urgency is centered. She takes that urgent flesh into her hands—and into herself—and he sighs and shakes with pleasure. His seed is white like seafoam and liquid sweet-salt like the sea itself.

* * *

The Visitor means to stay. He does not say so in words, nor _can_ he say so in words, but Alcida-Auka understands nonetheless.

There is nothing wrong with it. The decision is his to make. This is his right.

The other women are confused, though. “Will you perchance allow me to perform the Farewell?” Terna-Gentu asks. Her blue eyes glisten with hope. “Please give me the honor, Matron!”

Alcida-Auka remembers how the Visitor, like a big, shiny porg, fell into the sea, and she remembers how the sea refused to take the Visitor back. She remembers how it spat him out again in a smaller, more vulnerable shape with no choice remaining to him but to make the land his home. She shakes her head. “The Farewell will not be necessary. The Visitor is never leaving.”

Her declaration surprises the women. They chatter and bounce and burble among themselves until Alcida-Auka must remind them of the duties of the day they’ve yet to discharge. They must not forget the tides which guide their lives.

The suns are setting. During this time, the Visitor stands immersed in his own silent reflections.

Alcida-Auka approaches the Visitor respectfully. “The tide is rising,” she says.

“The…tide…is…ri…sing…?” the Visitor repeats slowly. He squints out towards the horizon line, where sea meets sky in a blaze of purple, crimson, and gold.

“Yes. The tide is rising.” She is well pleased as she takes the Visitor by the hand and ushers him into his Abode for the evening.

Life goes on. The tidewaters rise and fall.


End file.
